In a conventional digital camera, while confirming a subject using a live-view display of a display device such as a rear monitor, an EVF (Electronic View Finder), etc., photography is performed.
A user captures the subject in a screen frame while viewing a display device in which the live-view display is performed, and depresses a release button to thereby photograph the target subject as a still image.
In a general digital camera, the live-view display and the still-image photography are realized using one image pickup device, an optical system, etc. Therefore, the live-view display cannot be performed while an image is acquired using the still-image photography. As a result, a period (hereinafter, referred to as a blackout period) is present in which a display of the display device is blacked out.
Examples of situations in which the live-view display cannot be performed include a case in which a mechanical shutter that controls an exposure time is closed, a case in which the image pickup device is in a still-image acquisition state and an image in which the live-view display is performed cannot be output, a case in which the exposure is being changed as in an aperture driving, and the like.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-189481, for example, a technique is disclosed in which a through-image (an image in which the live view display is performed) is frozen during the aperture driving in the live-view display.
Conventionally, in the live-view display, during the aperture driving, control is performed such that the through-image is frozen or blacked out, or the aperture is slowly (some time later) driven.